Green Chain Filmmaker to Talk Censorship With The Senate

Mark Leiren-Young is "briefing" the Senate today (Wednesday, April 9 at 5 pm Eastern Time) on a provision in Bill C-10 that could lead to the censorship of Canadian film and television.
Mark's speaking to the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce on behalf of the Freedom of Expression Committee of the Book and Periodical Council of Canada.
This controversial clause in Bill C-10 won't affect The Green Chain, but it could affect the next movie or TV show that you try to make, so if you'd like to know what it's all about, here's the Facebook site Keep your censoring hands off of Canadian film and TV! No to Bill C-10! -- which now has over 38,000 members.
And if you're concerned about free speech in Canada, please join the Facebook group, send a letter to the Senate or call, write or email your MP.
Mark is presenting his brief between 5 and 6 pm (Eastern Time) and the Senate hearings are being streamed live on-line, so you can click here to watch. Other groups speaking today include REAL Women of Canada and Canadians Concerned about Violence in Entertainment (from 4-5 pm). The Canadian Conference of the Arts and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association will be speaking during the same session as the BPC, from 5-6.
Thursday's speakers include Sarah Polley and Wendy Crewson, who are speaking on behalf of ACTRA, and Rebecca Schechter and Maureen Parker from the Writer's Guild of Canada.
The Book and Periodical Council is the umbrella organization for Canadian associations involved in the writing, editing, publishing, manufacturing, distribution, selling and lending of books and periodicals in Canada. The members represent approximately 6,000 individuals and 5,500 firms and institutions. Associate members represent an additional several thousand individuals, firms and institutions.
The Freedom of Expression Committee monitors censorship issues in Canada, organizes Freedom to Read Week and produces an information kit each year on issues of intellectual freedom.
Mark first got involved with the FOE committee in 1992 when his comedy troupe, Local Anxiety, wrote the anthem for Freedom to Read Week, "Dirty Books."
He has represented the Playwrights Guild of Canada on FOE (and been part of their "issues" subcommittee) for so long that no one's quite sure when he officially joined.

Link to The Babz Chula Lifeline

Babz Chula is a national treasure and right now she needs your help -- so please share this post (or at least these links) with everyone you know.
Babz is currently fighting two different types of cancer and she’s using alternative therapies that aren’t covered by the Canadian Health Care system. So the Babz Chula Lifeline for Artists Society is raising money to help cover her treatments.
The Green Chain was Babz’ first gig after recovering from her last bout with cancer and I know everyone on the movie was honoured that she was willing to play with us.
So now I’m going to drop the names of some of the stars who are donating their time and/or memorabilia to the cause because I want everyone to visit eBay to bid early, often and extravagantly... David Duchovny (The X-Files), Nick Lea (Men in Trees), Chris Carter (Harsh Realm – okay, The X-Files too, but Harsh Realm was amazing and you should check it out on DVD), Gabrielle Miller (Corner Gas), Callum Keith Rennie (almost every cool Canadian movie you've ever seen), Jewel Staite (Firefly & Stargate Atlantis), Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica) and The Green Chain’s Tahmoh Penikett.
Babz is a joy to work with and to be with and I know she’s got hundreds of great roles left to play – both on and off stage.
So bid early, bid often and if you can’t find anything to buy, and even if you can, make a donation anyway for all the times you’ve seen her on stage or screen -- or off stage and screen -- and she’s made you laugh or cry or feel happy to be alive.

The Green Chain Podcast: Antony Marcil, Forest Stewardship Council of Canada

The Forest Stewardship Council of Canada was an early supporter of The Green Chain. They helped with our research, wrote a letter to support us when we applied for a grant (which we didn't get, but still...) and former FSC Canada board member, John Wiggers, played a major supporting role in the making of the movie.

So when I started The Green Chain podcast series, I knew I had to interview the head of the FSC, Antony Marcil. I met him when I was in Toronto interviewing movie stars for The Georgia Straight at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. And this was definitely one of my favourites interviews during the festival. Okay, Sir Richard Attenborough, Paul Schrader, Kevin Bacon, Gabriel Byrne, Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Michael Caine, Marjane Satrapi and Sidney Lumet weren't too dull either, but they didn't talk trees.

Here's the link to listen on iTunes.

Here's the intro from The Tyee podcast and the link to the story and audio options posted there.

One of Harry Potter's biggest magic tricks was letting the world know about the Forest Stewardship Council. When J.K. Rowling announced that the final installment of her beyond bestselling saga was going to be released on FSC certified paper, it was hard to miss the existence of an international organization that was founded in Toronto back in 1993 to look for better ways to manage the world's forests.

And when Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty made switching government papers to FSC certified paper part of his recent reelection campaign, it was a major triumph for Antony Marcil, president and CEO of FSC Canada since 2005.

Before taking over FSC Canada, Marcil spent 10 years as president and CEO of the World Environment Center. In 1997, he was included in the first worldwide listing of "The Top 100 Figures in Environment, Sustainable Development and Social Issues" by The Earth Times. He did a two year stint as "planner-in-residence" at the School of Planning, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo after devoting five years of his life to an unexpected way to save the planet: tax reform.

I met Marcil at the FSC office in downtown Toronto to talk about the history and future of the FSC, how tax reform could save the world and why he'd trash Canada's Ministry of the Environment.

And when I checked in just before posting this he was thrilled to tell me that there's so much demand for FSC-certified paper that FSC certified mills can't produce it fast enough. Fortunately, we don't need to worry about that since you're reading this online. . .

The Green Chain Script Scores a Canadian Screenwriting Award Nomination

Tony Wosk here with a special guest blog for The Green Chain. Usually I prefer to let Mark handle the blogging, but today is really a special circumstance. On behalf of the producers of the film, I wanted to congratulate our esteemed (and way too busy) writer/director Mark Leiren-Young on being named a finalist for the Writer's Guild of Canada’s 2008 Canadian Screenwriting Awards. Knowing all the wonderful films produced in Canada this past year, I find this peer voted award pretty darn cool.

From my first reading of The Green Chain, I always thought it was wonderfully written; and the script is actually why I got involved in the film in the first place, so it’s great to see that Mark’s being recognized for it and that others found the screenplay as compelling as I did.

Last year Sarah Polley won the award with her screenplay for Away From Her, which went on to garner an Oscar nomination.

This year the competition is just as fierce with screenwriters including Travis Macdonald (Normal), Clement Virgo & Chaz Thorne (Poor Boy’s Game) and Kari Skogland (The Stone Angel). Congrats to all of them as well.

Looking forward to the awards ceremony on April 14th, and not just because of the open bar.

(photo of Mark Leiren-Young by Tim Safranek, courtesy of The 2008 Cleveland International Film Festival.)

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The Green Chain Storms Cleveland

The airport just reopened after a blizzard and the city's still cold, but the audience at The Green Chain's American premiere couldn't have been warmer.

Writer/director Mark Leiren-Young and producer, Tony Wosk, both flew to Cleveland for the premiere and the response was fantastic.

Mark (that'd be me) joked before the movie about Ohio being a big forestry state. And that kicked the night off with a big laugh. The thrill for Mark and Tony was how many laughs there were - and how lovely the response was - from an audience that isn't necessarily raised on the politics of trees.

The movie was followed by a half hour "Question and Answer" session covering everything from the movie's shooting location, to Tricia Helfer's fearless performance as Leila Cole. And some members of the audience were surprised when the final credits started to roll and they realized our actors were actors and that this isn't a documentary -- a comment the movie has received after almost every screening we've done so far.

The Q&A continued at The Hard Rock Cafe when several audience members visited Mark and Tony with more questions and comments.

The Green Chain is part of the Cleveland International Film Festival's special "It's Easy Being Green" environmental program and is also featured as part of the festival's spotlight on new Canadian films. The movie was invited to Cleveland after festival director, Bill Guentzler, screened it at the Vancouver International Film Festival and decided to bring it home.

Mark's looking forward to meeting the audience at The Green Chain's second and final screening at the Festival, this Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. Okay, he's not looking forward to being awake at 9:30 a.m. but... he is looking forward to meeting anyone passionate enough about their movies to see them so early!

The Big Ohio Primary News -- The Green Chain is Elected to Play Cleveland

The Green Chain's American premiere is set to rock the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The 32nd Cleveland International Film Festival is featuring The Green Chain in their newly launched "It's Not Easy Being Green" section and also in their special slate of Canadian films, "Oh Canada."
The American premiere is Tuesday, March 11 at 7:00 pm, with a second showing Thursday, March 13 at 9:30 am. Currently only Festival members can purchase tickets, but general admission tickets will be on sale soon.
Founded in 1977, the Cleveland Film Society has presented the Cleveland International Film Festival every spring for over three decades. Ohio’s premier film event features over 240 films originating from close to 60 countries.
To buy tickets click here.
Here's the official synopsis from their program.
Who doesn’t love trees? Surely the logger loves trees, even the firefighter, and especially the environmentalist protester. But so does the movie star, the logging executive, the tree-sitter living 100 feet high, and the waitress in a small British Columbian town. This film is compromised of a series of monologues by all of the above and more. What these interlocking stories tell us is that there are multiple sides to the environmentalist issue. Each of these individuals has different reasons to love trees. To some, trees are their livelihood; to others, trees are a reason to fight. What’s more is that all of these reasons to love trees inadvertently affect other people’s lives. In exposing the different viewpoints of the logging industry, which is currently dividing and destroying communities in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, Mark Leiren-Young creates a film-- a sort of staged documentary-- based on true tales. While not as laugh-out-loud funny as Christopher Guest, but much more biting and hard hitting, this film will make everyone question where their tree devotion falls along THE GREEN CHAIN.

Kingston Checks out The Green Chain March 1 & 2nd

The Green Chain's Ontario premiere at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival is set. The movie debuts Saturday, March 1st @ 9:30 PM. The second showing is Sunday, March 2nd @ 3:40 PM.

Kingston is the world's largest all-Canadian Film Festival, so start humming "O Canada" and tell all your friends in Ontario to check out the show.

For ticket information click here.

And here's the official program synopsis by Elan Mastai...

The battle between loggers and environmentalists is defining and dividing communities across Canada, and this thought-provoking, unexpectedly funny, and wonderfully acted film explores both sides of an issue that’s never clear cut. Writer-director Mark Leiren-Young tackles a challenging subject with an innovative approach — seven characters deliver seven monologues arguing their perspectives and quietly revealing their intriguing personal connections. The film’s strong environmental core is elevated by incredible performances; many delivered in a single stunning take, from a knock-out ensemble cast including Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer and Tahmoh Penikett, and multiple Genie and Gemini winners Babz Chula, Brendan Fletcher, and August Schellenberg.

Stay tuned for news about The Green Chain's American premiere!